René Girard's Mimetic Theory

Wolfgang Palaver

Publication Year: 2013

A systematic introduction into the mimetic theory of the French-American literary theorist and philosophical anthropologist Ren&eacute; Girard, this essential text explains its three main pillars (mimetic desire, the scapegoat mechanism, and the Biblical &ldquo;difference&rdquo;) with the help of examples from literature and philosophy. This book also offers an overview of Ren&eacute; Girard&rsquo;s life and work, showing how much mimetic theory results from existential and spiritual insights into one&rsquo;s own mimetic entanglements. Furthermore it examines the broader implications of Girard&rsquo;s theories, from the mimetic aspect of sovereignty and wars to the relationship between the scapegoat mechanism and the question of capital punishment. Mimetic theory is placed within the context of current cultural and political debates like the relationship between religion and modernity, terrorism, the death penalty, and gender issues. Drawing textual examples from European literature (Cervantes, Shakespeare, Goethe, Kleist, Stendhal, Storm, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, Proust) and philosophy (Plato, Camus, Sartre, L&eacute;vi-Strauss, Derrida, Vattimo), Palaver uses mimetic theory to explore the themes they present. A highly accessible book, this text is complemented by bibliographical references to Girard&rsquo;s widespread work and secondary literature on mimetic theory and its applications, comprising a valuable bibliographical archive that provides the reader with an overview of the development and discussion of mimetic theory until the present day.

Cover

Title Page, Copyright

Contents

Preface

According to Roberto Calasso, René Girard is one of the “last surviving
hedgehogs.”1 With this thesis, the Italian philosopher makes use
of Isaiah Berlin’s interpretation of Archilochus’s dictum in order to
describe the founder of the mimetic theory more closely. Berlin diff erentiates
“hedgehogs” such as Plato, Dante, Hegel, Dostoyevsky, or Proust from
“foxes” such as Aristotle, Shakespeare, or Goethe. While the former authors...

Preface to the English Edition

Since this book was first published in 2003, the worldwide acceptance
of Girard’s mimetic theory has expanded significantly. What was once
an insiders’ tip among cultural theorists and scholars of literature and
religion now finds itself increasingly in the focus of academic attention. This
can be seen most clearly in the numerous honorary doctorates Girard has
received in past years, and above all in his induction into the Académie française
in 2005.1 The awarding of the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize by the Eberhard...

1. Life and Work of René Girard

René Girard refers time and again in his analysis of literature to the
correspondence between the lives of authors and their work. From
the perspective of the mimetic theory, the existential connections
between biography and work are not to be overlooked. In his first book,
Deceit, Desire and the Novel, Girard bases his central thesis on the observation
that Cervantes, Flaubert, Stendhal, Proust, and Dostoyevsky arrived
at their insights into human nature by going through a personal...

2. Religion and Modernity

The mimetic theory is first and foremost a theory of religion. It
describes the “religious” dimension of interpersonal relations—the
idolatry of models or sexual partners—just as it explains the origins
of archaic religions and the qualitative difference between these and the
Judeo-Christian tradition. In the following chapters, these three areas will
serve as the basis for extensive discussion of the mimetic theory, the scope of
which finds itself between the conflicting poles of religion and modernity. ...

3. Mimetic Desire

The increasing relevance of the mimetic theory is based not only on
the light it sheds on religion, but also on its ability to explicate violent
conflict in human society. In essence, it is a “theory of conflict,”
one that both elucidates the causes of interpersonal clashes and also off ers
solutions to them.1 In the German-speaking world, the mimetic theory has long been excluded
from theoretic discussion. In other countries, Girard’s works were quickly...

4. The Scapegoat Mechanism as Origin of Culture

Girard’s work on mimetic desire leads to the second large step of
his theory in the direction of an all-encompassing theory of culture.
The core of this second part is formed by his thesis of the
scapegoat mechanism, which posits that human culture emanated from a
founding murder. Girard claims that the first forms of human civilization
were engendered by the collective deterrence of violence in archaic situations
of crisis. ...

5. Biblical Revelation and Christianity

The third stage of the mimetic theory is formed by Girard’s analysis of
the writings of biblical revelation.1 Using the same interpretive lens
he used to analyze myths, Girard encountered texts in his examination
of the Bible that showed a radical diff erence from the mythical perspective.
These texts no longer took the perspective of the lynch mob, as was the
case with myth, but that of scapegoats victimized by mob persecution. ...

6. Political Implications of the Mimetic Theory

As a theory of culture [tr. Kulturtheorie], the mimetic theory explains
not only the genesis of archaic religions and the foundation of
human civilization, but also the formation of major political institutions,
which in Girard’s eyes can be traced back to the scapegoat mechanism.
In the following chapter, we will pursue the violent origins of political power,
legal order, and war through analyses of sacred kingship, capital punishment, ...

7. Mimetic Theory and Gender

Girard’s analytical search for the victims of primitive social and
political persecution shows similarities to feminist stances that take
the victim status of women as a starting point for their critique of
patriarchal society.1 His method of textual interpretation, like the feminist
method, can be characterized by a “hermeneutics of suspicion.”2
Such parallels, however, should not cause one to understand the mimetic
theory as any kind of feminist stance. Many feminists themselves accuse...

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